Malaysian currency - ringgits and sens (as in ‘cents’) - really is rather good. 

For these two reasons:

1. The notes are all different sizes and colours according to their denomination; and the coins are similarly logically sized/coloured. On the very first day I used both notes and coins, at a supermarket, I found myself paying for something as quickly as a native. This is as opposed to any time I’m in America, when I stand deliberating like a tourist (or in the case of notes: a native), trying to work out the denomination of each note and the value of each coin. It could possibly be the world’s simplest currency. 

2. One Malaysian Ringgit is roughly equal to 15 British pence - which means that you think you’re spending a lot, when in fact you’re spending very little. As a result, you find yourself curbing your spending (even though goods are much cheaper over here) as your brain thinks that 50 Ringgits is a fortune, when actually it’s about five quid. This is very helpful when you are, as I am, up financial poo creek without a Ringgit.  


(PS. I was originally going to call this post ‘Notes From A Small Island’ - which, thinking about it, could have been a good alternative title for the blog. Maybe that’s what I’ll call my next one, should I ever find myself singing in Corsica/Sicily/Anglesey).  

This entry was posted on Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 5.41pm and is filed under Malaysia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.